Final Boxscore
With Baron's leadership skills, he's able to make plays on and off the court- passing sausage mcmuffins like he was delivering alley-oops!
(Photo by Jeff Carlick/NBAE via Getty Images)
Within the span of 3 minutes in the 4th quarter, I went from singing Fat Joe's "Make it Rain!" to New Edition's "Can you stand the rain" as I witnessed the Warriors typical late game self-combustion. Luckily, team leader Baron Davis would not be denied, securing the win with a steal and go ahead layup with a buck thirty left on the clock putting the Warriors safely up eight points.
Baron taking down Goliath
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
In the first half, the Warriors looked like the "Showtime" Lakers of the eighties, putting up 45 points in the first quarter enroute to a 77 point first half. JRich had 5 threes at the end of the first for 21 points, scoring from deep and a variety of much celebrated post moves. JRich got into the lane with ease making defensive stopper Raja Bell look nothing like the guy that made him a Kobe stopper in the playoffs. His fade away 6 footers in the paint seemed like his uncontestable go-to move, making me wonder if JRich might be developing that killer instinct that Kobe and TMac both have. Really though, why settle for threes when you got those post moves?
What seemed so fruitful in the first half that surprisingly wasn't exploited in the second half was the uneven match ups with Steve Nash and the Suns other speedy but small guards. Commentators Steve Kerr and Reggie Miller both noted that the Warriors repeatedly (and successfully) went to the post (specifically at Nash) with results. It became glaringly obvious that the two time MVP is so effective on offense because, echoing Atma, he only plays "half the game."
Ankles severely broken.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
It seemed inevitable that the Warriors would cool off sometime during the game and costly turnovers nearly transformed this game into one of the biggest comebacks of the season. But, what was reassuring about watching this post-Murphleavy squad is that you can trust them -- for the most part -- to hit open jumpers. Jax came through in the second half, hitting a few deep threes in response to the Suns mini-runs. We can all agree that we prefer them to be more aggressive by attacking the rim and drawing fouls; the free throw disparity was 29 attempts to the Warriors measly 14.
And what about Nellie's starting five tonight with Harrington at the 5 spot? It seemed pretty successful against the Suns a more perimeter oriented team (on offense at least) and it reminded me of the old TMC days when 6'7 Tom Tolbert used to man the middle. Do you think this might be an effective strategy for the next few games or just tonight based on the matchups?
I searched for a Biedrins facial on Nash and Stoudemire, but unfortuntaely, nothing came up. Watching Biedrins take from the top of the key down the middle was frightening but his "tea-bagging" of Nash added to an ongoing theme for the night, which was to take at Nash. Perhaps Nellie's secret plan and background knowledge? Seconds later Biedrins makes an important stop on defense, stuffing a layup leading to an easy bucket at the other end.
"Critics can talk all they want, but we're goin 'to the playoffs," says Jax
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
JRICH, no doubt. The dude was fiyah like Dream Team Chair Sets . Not only did he set a team record of threes in a game, but also grabbed 12 boards too. A little disappointing was the fact that he didn't shoot a single freethrow all game, which leads me to believe that he's still recovering from his injury and taking it slow.
UPDATE: Video Wonders!
"Biedrins WITH A FACIAL!"
Game highlights:
Thanks to namjagerungbengi, monta monta, and nautica for the links.
UPDATE 2: Check out some Suns fans' perspectives on the shoot-out over at SBN brother blog Bright Side of the Sun. Also take a look at FreeDarko's take on the game.